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| Teacher still keeps vow not to shave until Osama bin Laden is captured |
| 2006-09-13 |
| EPHRATA -- He has a special way of remembering 9/11. It's a daily reminder and has been since shortly after the fateful day when terrorists commandeered commercial airliners full of people and crashed them into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, killing nearly 3,000 people. Five years ago, when that was happening, Gary Weddle, then a substitute teacher in Wenatchee, got so caught up in the news that he neglected to shave. A week or so later, he vowed not to shave until the chief of the terrorists, Osama bin Laden, was captured or proven dead. Weddle did it as a personal reminder of the tragedy, but it became a reminder to everyone he knows. He did it figuring it would be only a month or two before bin Laden was caught. Now it's been five years, but to Weddle, 46, a vow is a vow. He still has the beard and despite frequent suggestions that he at least trim it, he's never done so. It's beginning to gray now and it's still about a foot long, which it was the first year. A few hairs of it stretch out to 15 inches, he says. "I still get emotional over the families who lost loved ones. I just don't feel there's any closure on this until they get that guy. I don't have to know anyone personally who lost family in 9/11 to understand the devastation that he's responsible for," Weddle says. He's a science teacher at Ephrata Middle School, as he was when The Wenatchee World first wrote about his beard in September of 2002. At the start of each school year, Weddle tells his students why he has the beard. He tells them the war on terror is a serious thing. "How someone who could profess such a love for God could resort to such evil is astounding," he says. "As harsh as it is for the U.S. to take the losses, I'm glad someone is standing up to terrorists and thugs like (Saddam) Hussein," he says. Students and other teachers accept the beard, but Weddle, who lives in East Wenatchee, still gets interesting reactions outside of school."Small children stare. They're very curious. I'll wave to them and they will usually smile," he says. "But when I'm alone in a grocery store aisle, people will turn and go the other way. When I'm with someone, that doesn't happen." His wife, Donita, still hates the beard. Their twin daughters and third daughter, students at Eastmont High School, are OK with it and "mostly their boyfriends think it's cool," Weddle says. He doesn't seek publicity. He's only received local newspaper coverage and an interview with a Seattle-area radio station. Jeez, there's a shock... A Wenatchee World photo of him showed up once in a Russian newspaper article about American patriotism, he says. So is he really going to stick with it? "No doubt," he replies. "Even if I get buried with it." |
| Posted by:tu3031 |
| #1 [Insert ZZ-Top joke here] |
| Posted by: xbalanke 2006-09-13 17:17 |